Philautia || Amour Éternel Series BOOK ONE ||

Thirteen - SHANNON

"Aye -aye," he said, walking to the large farmhouse sink and washing his hands. "What's for dinner, anyways?"

"Fish and steak," she replied. "Lilia and Sam went into town this morning and got it. I'm starting to think I'll have to keep an eye on them."

"He's a little old for your sister, isn't he?" he asked, drying his hands. He walked to the refrigerator and pulled out two heads of lettuce and various other salad ingredients.

"That's funny, coming from you," Callie replied over her shoulder. He lobbed a piece of chopped tomato at her. "Hey! You're getting it in the food!" she exclaimed, laughing.

Shannon was halfway through chopping up mushrooms when Sam appeared. He was taller than Shannon by a few inches with a mop of unruly black curls and bright sea foam green eyes. He was well-built and Shannon could understand Lilia's attraction to him; he screamed Hollywood Hunk a mile away. If only poor Lilia could see that he was gayer than Peter Pan on a pair of ice skates. 

"Grill's done outside. We're ready when you are," he said.

Shannon picked up the completed salad and followed Sam out to the large table that Aya had set. Lilia and Meredith were already sitting at the table by the time Shannon set the large wooden salad bowl down. A second later, Belle popped out of the water and came over, wrapping herself in a plush white towel, taking the seat next to Shannon. Tom placed a platter of fish and steak at the center of the table. It had been garnished with fresh herbs.

"Thanks to Sam and Lilia for getting dinner this morning," he said, sitting next to Callie. A chorus of appreciation rose across the table. "I'm not much of a grill master, so forgive me if things aren't perfect," Tom added in his usual self-deprecating manner.

Shannon had to refrain from rolling his eyes.

"No worries, mate," Aya assured him. "I didn't have to cook it and that's all that matters to me." He took a steak from the platter and passed it along.

"Aya has relatively low standards," Meredith teased, helping herself to some sauteed vegetables. "He's easy to impress."

Everyone laughed as they served themselves. Within minutes, the only noises were forks and knives scraping across plates, the ocean waves crashing below them, and seagulls calling overhead. Shannon was pleasantly surprised with Tom's grilling skills. For an annoying ass, he grilled a mean steak.

"So Shannon, Callie tells me you've launched a coffee company," Tom asked, wiping his mouth with his napkin.

Shannon nodded. "Yeah. Its been a fun experience so far. I'm learning a lot as I go."

"What brought it on, though?" Tom asked.

"I've always loved coffee. And when you travel as much as I do, you come to discover good and band kinds," Shannon explained. "My brother suggested I start my own brand because he realized I had a real knack for finding good coffee."

"Is it just coffee?" Sam asked.

"For now, yeah. We're working on a few new products at add to the line. Merchandise and stuff like that. We'll see how well it goes," Shannon sipped his wine. "But I'm very confident. Its going really, really well."

"That's good. I don't know how you manage traveling and running a business at the same time," Tom remarked. "I can barely keep my head on straight with my current schedule. I'd be lost without my assistant."

Shannon shrugged. "It's a lot easier when we aren't touring. And right now, we're free. So it's not that complicated for me."

"I hear you're the reason Callie has a dog now," Sam said.